NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 11/30

Reflecting on cultural and political revolution, theologian Rubem Alves offers these words on hope. I find his thoughts especially apt for the perennial revolution for which Advent is preparing us: the coming of Christ in our lives and again at the end of time.  Today's Night Prayer and song follow after Alve's words...

What is hope?
It is the presentiment
that imagination is more real
and reality is less real
than it looks.

Hope is the hunch
that the overwhelming brutality of facts
that oppress and repress us
is not the last word.

It is the suspicion that reality is more complex
than the realists want us to believe -
that the frontiers of the possible
are not determined by the limits of the actual -
and in a miraculous and unexplained way,
life is opening up creative events
which will open the way
to freedom and resurrection.

But the two – suffering and hope –
must live from each other.
Suffering without hope
produces resentment and despair.
But, hope without suffering
creates illusions, naivete and drunkenness.

So let us plant dates -
even though we who plant them will never eat them.*

We must live by the love of what we will never see.
That is the secret discipline.

It is the refusal to let our creative act
be dissolved by our need for immediate sense experience
and it is a struggled commitment
to the future of our grandchildren.

Such disciplined hope
is what has given prophets, revolutionaries and saints,
the courage to die for the future they envisage.
They make their own bodies
the seed of their highest hopes.   

*Date palms don't bear fruit for 7-10 years after planting!

Lord, I'm so easily weighed down

by my struggles, my burdens

and the harsh realities of daily life...

Sometimes, I think I'll lose hope in you

    in tomorrow, 

    in others,

    and in myself

so I need you to help me trust,

to help me hope

that the peace I imagine,

the peace I pray for,

the peace you promise

is stronger and greater 

than any of my problems...

 

Let hope be my hunch, Lord:

    that my future's not limited 

        by my present trials;

    that the troubles of the moment

        won't have the last word;

    that my burdens are truly

        a prelude to joy...

 

Give me hope 

    in the midst of suffering, Lord:

I know that's the path of your love,

    I know it's the way to peace... 

Help me see, Lord, 

how my troubles prepare me today

    for your coming, the advent of peace,

for the gift of your presence,

    the harvest of hope,

        my hunch proved right by your grace...

 

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I asleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen. 

There Is A Hope by Stuart Townend 

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Retreat Notes #2

    The view from my window this week

I'm away this week at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, MA.  I hold you all in my heart in prayer this week so in a way, you're here with me on retreat. To share my experience with you, I'll post occasional notes like the one below.  Please, come pray with me!

TUESDAY MORNING

My retreat is based on the amazingly bold premise that the all powerful Creator of the universe has any interest in or cares to take notice of - my existence.  That I have come here to pray reveals yet another incredible presumption: the One who is all-knowing and infinitely wise actually listens and pays attention to what I have to say.  And - brace yourself - this same eternal God never ceases to respond to my often clumsy, selfish and intermittent ramblings.

I think we don't often enough consider what it means for all of us to pray and to believe that God faithfully listens to, hears and answers our prayer - even if we don't always readily or easily understand what that divine response may be - even when that response is nothing more and nothing less than the silent, abiding, gracious presence of the One to whom we pray.

But this is, indeed, what we believe. It's why I'm in Gloucester this week.  It's why you pray. It's why we gather here, day after day, in the virtual chapel of this blog.  

We believe that our God knows and calls us each by name.  We believe that Jesus walks by our side as surely as he walked with his friends in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago.  We believe that the Spirit of God dwells within us, constantly urging us to open our minds and hearts: to the One who knows our every sorrow and joy; the One who knows our every fear, doubt and worry: the One who knows our every plea before it rises in our soul or leaves our lips in words of prayer.

And we do what we believe.  Again: this is why I've come to Gloucester this week. This is why you pray, wherever you are.  This is why we gather day after day in this virtual chapel. This is why the Spirit is calling, urging, prodding, nudging each of us - today - to find some quiet time, in a quiet place, to open up our minds and hearts to God, the Almighty, who's waiting to hear from us, who's waiting to speak to us, who's waiting to be with us in prayer.  

 

Have you prayed today?

God is waiting to hear from you...

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NIGHT PRAYER: Monday 11/29

 

I love this simple prayer from Edwina Gateley - especially for Advent.  If the prayer seems even too simple, I've followed it below with a guide for praying it...

 

Be silent.

Be still.

Wait before your God.

Say nothing. 

 
Ask nothing.

Be still.

Let your God look upon you.

That is all.

God knows.  God understands.

God loves you with an enormous love.

God only wants to look upon you with love.

Quiet...

 
Still...

 
Be...

 
Let your God love you...

 

Still need some help with that prayer?

Here's a guided walk through those same words...  

Be silent...
Find, make the time to be in a quiet place:
no interruptions, no phone, no screen 
- even if only for ten minutes or so...  

Be still...
Sit in a comfortable position, take a few deep breaths,
If it helps, close your eyes... 

Wait before your God..

Resist the urge to "get things going!"

Simply wait for God... 

trust that God is near...

wait until you feel God's presence, 

wait until you know that God is with you... 

Say nothing...

This is not a prayer of words, it's a prayer of the heart. 

Don't try to think of what to say:

it's fine if you say nothing at all...  

 

Ask nothing...

Regardless of your needs at the moment: ask nothing of God.

This isn't ask-and-receive time. 

This is simply time to be with God 

and to know the Lord's love...  

Be still...
Be still in your body, be still in your thoughts,
be still in your mind, be still in your heart... 

Let your God look upon you...

As a mother and father

look upon their child's face with joy,

so God looks upon you with love

 

That is all...

This prayer IS this simple:

simply to be in God's presence and to know,

to bask in the Lord's loving gaze...  

God knows...  God understands...
No need to speak, no need to ask for anything:
God knows everything you need before you speak
and God understands every difficulty and problem you have
in ways that you will never understand.

God loves you with an enormous love...
God knows you and God understands you
and still God loves you tremendously,
fully, freely and with forgiveness...

God only wants to look upon you with love...

In this time of prayer, this is all God wants: 

to look upon you with love

and for you to know his loving gaze... 

Quiet...

Still...

Be...

Let your God love you...

In this simplest of prayers you have very little work to do

- God does all the work! 

You have only to find or make a quiet time, 

to be still in God's presence

and wait to see, to know

how your God looks upon you

with love...

Be Still and Know That I Am God by Christopher Walker

 

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Be still and know that I am God. 

You are my chosen one, to whom my love I give. 

My life is yours in you I live. 

Be still, be still, and know that I am God 

 

Be still and know that I am God. 

You are my chosen one, I came to set you free. 

Give me your cares and rest in me. 

Be still, be still and know that I am God 

 

Be still and know that I am God. 

You are my chosen one to whom I show my ways. 

My love is with you all my days. 

Be still, be still and know that I am God 

 

 

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Retreat Notes #1

    The view from my window this week

I'm away this week at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, MA.  I hold you all in my heart in prayer this week so in a way, you're here with me on retreat. To share my experience with you, I'll post occasional notes like the one below.  Please, come pray with me!

MONDAY AFTERNOON

Lord, I know I’m privileged and blessed to be at this place, to spend this time with you, in silence and in prayer. There’s a great calm settling in my soul, a peace so deep I know that only you could be its source… 

I’ve come here to find you - but you were already, and you always are, a lodger in my heart.  Though I may wander far and wide, though I sometimes forget you - or think to myself that you’ve forgotten me - there’s never a moment when you’re not by my side, present to my every joy and sorrow, anointing me with mercy and filling me with grace that I neither merit nor deserve.

Here, in the stillness, at the ocean’s edge, you beat softly on my heart like the waves upon the shore, massaging my weariness with your strong and gentle hands, inviting me to trust and to rest in your embrace.

There’s not a day or night, there’s not a time or place, when you’re not with us, Lord - with each of us - as you’re with me today.  Whatever the time, then, and wherever we may be, open our hearts to you in prayer: to your presence, to your Spirit, to the peace you long to give us, the peace we long to find.

 

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NIGHT PRAYER: Sunday 11/28

On Sundays, Night Prayer will focus on an element from the day's celebration of Mass. Tonight we reflect on a song we hear every Advent and yet may miss its application to our own lives...

The well known hymn, O Come Emmanuel, expresses Israel's longing for a savior to come and set God's people free.  Peter Hollens take on this piece reveals the song's plaintive cry... As you listen to the music, reflect on how these words might be your own, might become your own cry, your own prayer, in this Advent season...  To help with this, ponder the questions below the widget as you listen to the music...

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O Come, Emmanuel by Peter Hollens

What holds me captive in my life

    and how might the Lord set me free?

In what ways am I exiled, excluded, marginalized

    - and how might the Lord draw me in?

How and what do I mourn and grieve in my life,

    in my circumstances, in my relationships

        and how might the Lord bring me to peace?

What saddened corners of my heart long for cheer

    and how is the Lord inviting me to joy?

What clouds obscure my vision, my hope, my dreams

    and how is the Lord's light 

        leading me out of the shadows?

How do I need God's might, God's strength

    to help me in my weakness?

How do I need God's law of love, his word and rule

    to lead me to the path of life?

Will I pray for the grace to rejoice

    even though my heart may be burdened?

Will I pray for the Lord to come, to be Emmanuel,

    to be "God-with-me"?

Will I look with faith for his coming,

    trusting that indeed, he is here, he is on his way

        and that he will come again and again and again?

Protect me, Lord while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

 

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No homily this weekend, BUT....

 

    Image source

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my new parish home at Good Shepherd in Wayland, it's the custom for the deacon to preach at all the masses on the fourth Sunday of the month. So, this is the first time in 48 years that I haven't preached on the First Sunday of Advent. No, I didn't write a homily but I did have some thoughts about what I might have preached if I'd had the opportunity.  So, here's just a sketch of where my homily might have gone...

Try to imagine for a moment,

what would Christmas be: 

 

    if  we took away Santa and all the presents?

 

    if we turned off all the seasonal lights

        and took down all the decorations?

 

    if we didn't do any shopping or wrapping?

 

    if we chopped down not a single tree

        to drop its needles in our living rooms?

    if no one sent Christmas cards? 

    if there were no parties or open-houses? 

 

    if no one made eggnog or baked Christmas cookies? 

 

What then would be left of Christmas?

 

What would we do? 

What would bring us Christmas cheer?

 

How would we celebrate the birth of Jesus? 

Would the meaning of Christmas 

    be any less real?

 

Or would the meaning of Christmas be

    more real than ever before?

Try to imagine that our celebration of Christmas 

was stripped down to:

 

    a well known story of a baby born

        in a little town called Bethlehem...

 

    reaching out to those in need,

        as poor as that child asleep in a manger...

 

    giving, not receiving...

 

    people gathering in their houses of worship

        to praise God for the gift of salvation...

    singing psalms and hymns of  joy...

 

    breaking the holy bread of life, sharing a cup of blessing... 

 

    searching the heavens for a star to guide us

        to justice and mercy and peace...

 

    bringing the gift our selves to offer

        to the One who has given us all we have...

Advent's a time of less is more...

 

Advent's a time to pause, to stop,

    to take a few deep breaths and be still

        in the presence of God...

 

Advent's a time for waiting

    for what comes slowly, surely and with grace... 

Advent's a time to pray:

    to speak to God and listen for the Spirit's whisper...

 

Advent's a time to hear the cry of the poor

    and to reach out and generously help them...

 

Advent's a time to make room in our hearts

    for Jesus who still seeks a place to dwell...

 

Advent's a time for pursuing our heart's desire,

   for seeking what makes us truly happy...

 

Advent's a time, like every time and season,

    to be awake and alert and to watch

        for the coming of God in our lives,

        for the presence of God in our lives,

        and for the promise of God to be with us always

            in good times and in bad...

 

We have four weeks to prepare for Christmas:

    pray that we let go all we don't need

        and open our hearts and our arms

            to coming of God in our midst... 

    

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Sunday Morning Offering!

Morning Coffee by George Mendoza 

Because I'll be on retreat this week - and posting only Night Prayer each day - I'm anticipating what would have been tomorrow's Monday Morning Offering...

On the church calendar, a new "year of grace" begins on the first Sunday of Advent as once again, over the course of a year, we unfold the mystery of Jesus: in history, in word and sacrament,  and in our own lives in faith. Happy New Year, then - and thus this Morning Offering...

Good morning, good God!

With Advent comes a new year of grace,
grace that's yours alone to give and mine to receive...

In this new year I want to offer you
an open door to my heart
for you to enter and make your home there...

I offer you the corners of my heart's garden
where I let the weeds grow wild:
help me weed out and prune away
whatever fails to nourish my spirit, my soul...

I offer you the closets of my heart,
stuffed with old grudges and resentments:
Lord, help me discard anything
that fails to help me heal and grow...

I offer you my heart's boxes of wasted time,
bags of foolishness
and suitcases of misspent effort:
Lord, help me clear out the trash of my mistakes
and give me a new beginning...

I offer you the cellar of my heart, Lord,
where a locked trunk of hurt and anger
aches to be opened with the key of your healing grace:
unlock what keeps me prisoner
to my memories and disappointments...

I offer you my heart's hopes and dreams, Lord,
for this new year of grace:
my pledge to pray more regularly;
my desire to grow in your love;
my need to rely on your wisdom and word;
my promise to ask for your help each day;
my hope to be more forgiving of those who offend me,
more faithful in serving others' needs
and more welcoming of those who are alone...

I offer you this new year of grace, Lord,
and ask for the strength and resolve I need to live it
as one worthy of the name Christian,
ready for the work of a disciple,
confident of your presence in everything I do
and in all I meet and know...

I offer you the new year ahead, Lord
- one day at a time -
and I pray for the serenity and grace
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference...

Amen.

 

 

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NIGHT PRAYER: On the eve of Advent

At sundown today we began to celebrate the season of Advent: a season of joyful expectation of Christmas; a season for renewing our hearts as a dwelling place for Christ today; and a season for contemplating Christ's coming again at the end of time... Each Saturday night in this season, Night Prayer will focus on lighting one or more candles on the Advent wreath..

If you have an Advent Wreath at home, pray for peace this week

   as you light the first candle each day.

If you don't have an Advent Wreath

   - light any candle and pray for peace.

If you have no candle,

   simply stay right here with the virtual candle above and pray for peace...

This prayer is for each time you light the candle on your wreath this week...

Let us pray for peace... 

 

Let us pray for an end to war,

    terrorism, violence and bloodshed...

 

Let us pray for the safe return of those who are in harm's way

    especially those far from home, family and friends...

 

Let us pray for peace at our nation's borders 

   and at the borders of nations around the world...

 

Let us pray for racial peace and harmony in our nation...

 

Let us pray for peace and an end to the violence of mass shootings...

 

Let us pray for political peace and unity in America... 

Let us pray for those who have died in war 

   and for their loved ones who grieve their loss... 

 

Let us pray for our enemies...  

 

Let us pray for the poor who suffer war's hardships... 

 Let us pray for the peace the world cannot give or make for itself,

   the peace that only the Lord can give...

 

Let us pray for peace in the Church... 

 

Let us pray for healing peace in the hearts and minds and souls

   of those who have been abused by the Church and her ministers...

 

Let us pray for the peace

   of truth, honesty and transparency in the Church...

 

Let us pray for peace among those divided

   by theological and liturgical differences...

 

Let us pray for the unity of all who believe in Christ...

Let us pray for peace among the people of God...

 

And let us pray for an end to the wars we wage (large and small)

    in our own families and neighborhoods, 

        at work, at school and in our parishes... 

 

Let us pray for peace and safety

   of all who live with domestic violence...

 

Let us pray for those we make our personal enemies... 

   and those who make enemies of us...

 

Let us pray for an end to the wars we fight within ourselves... 

 

Let us pray for healing peace in the minds and hearts

   of all who live with anxiety, fear and depression... 

 

Let us pray for peace in those secret places in our hearts

    where only God and we know how great is the need for peace...

 

Let us pray for the peace we cannot give or make for ourselves... 

 

Let us pray for the peace that only the Lord can give...

 

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake

and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen. 

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Peace by Dan Loewen

   

The waters are raging, the storm clouds are near 

How long till this chaos will cease 

Come silence the waves of our worry and fear 

Will you come, will you come, bring us peace 

 

Come O Come Emmanuel 

Come O Come Emmanuel 

 

The waves would obey you 

If you just speak the word 

So we wait in the silence 

For your peace here on earth

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